Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Amsurg Corp. rose while shares of Envision Healthcare Holdings Inc. fell in the extended session Wednesday following an announcement that the two health-care providers would merge. Amsurg shares ticked up 1.7% to $78.78, and Envision shares fell 7.3% to $25.50 after hours. The all-stock deal would values the combined company at $10 billion, with Envision shareholders having a 53% stake in the company.

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Shares of Jabil Circuit Inc. were volatile in Wednesday’s extended session after the Apple supplier released a weak outlook for the fourth quarter. Jabil reported its third-quarter earnings shrank to $5.8 million, or 3 cents a share, from $72.4 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. The tech products maker earned 17 cents a share, excluding charges. Revenue slipped to $4.3 billion from $4.36 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 16 cents a share on revenue of $4.18 billion. In the fourth quarter, Jabil expects adjusted EPS of 15 cents to 35 cents and revenue of $4.15 billion to $4.35 billion. That is significantly below Wall Street’s EPS forecast of 53 cents and $4.66 billion revenue. Separately, the company also said it will buy back up to $400 million in shares. Jabil shares were most recently down 0.1%.

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Shares of Jabil Circuit Inc. were volatile in Wednesday’s extended session after the Apple supplier released a weak outlook for the fourth quarter. Jabil reported its third-quarter earnings shrank to $5.8 million, or 3 cents a share, from $72.4 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. The tech products maker earned 17 cents a share, excluding charges. Revenue slipped to $4.3 billion from $4.36 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 16 cents a share on revenue of $4.18 billion. In the fourth quarter, Jabil expects adjusted EPS of 15 cents to 35 cents and revenue of $4.15 billion to $4.35 billion. That is significantly below Wall Street’s EPS forecast of 53 cents and $4.66 billion revenue. Separately, the company also said it will buy back up to $400 million in shares. Jabil shares were most recently down 0.1%.

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FireEye Inc. stock suddenly jumped more than 4% Wednesday afternoon following a Bloomberg News report of acquisition interest in the company. The security company, previously rumored to be a target for Cisco Systems Inc. , rebuffed interest from multiple suitors earlier this year after hiring Morgan Stanley to gauge interest, anonymous sources told Bloomberg. The only company named in the report was Symantec Corp., a legacy security company that has struggled to keep up with next-generation competitors like FireEye. Symantec announced the $4.7 billion acquisition of Blue Coat Inc. earlier this week in an effort to boost its offerings. After Symantec’s attempt was dropped in February, FireEye negotiated with an unnamed potential buyer well into March before calling an end to those talks and dropping the sale process, Bloomberg reported. FireEye announced in May that Chief Executive David DeWalt would move to an executive chairman role and cede his CEO role to Kevin Mandia. Shares jumped from about $15.60 to more than $16 immediately after the report was published slightly before 3 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday; Bloomberg reported that FireEye was seeking $30 or more per share in a potential merger.

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Oil futures fell on Wednesday as economic uncertainty raised concerns over energy demand ahead of the U.K. referendum next week. Prices failed to get much of a boost from a weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies and the Federal Reserve’s decision to stand pat on interest rates. July WTI crude settled at $48.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 48 cents, or 1%, for the session.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider-trading charges on Wednesday against Sanjay Valvani and Christopher Plaford, portfolio managers at Visium Asset Management, and their alleged source Gordon Johnston, a former deputy director of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Generic Drugs. Johnston concealed a paid role as a consultant to the hedge fund and obtained confidential information about anticipated FDA approvals for companies to produce enoxaparin, a generic drug that helps prevent the formation of blood clots, according to the SEC’s complaint. Valvani allegedly traded in advance of public announcements concerning FDA approvals for companies such as Momenta Pharmaceuticals , Watson Pharmaceuticals , and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and tipped off Plaford. Valvani allegedly earned nearly $32 million in unlawful profits and Plaford allegedly made approximately $300,000. In a separate complaint, the SEC charged another manager at Visium Asset management, Stefan Lumiere, with perpetrating a fraudulent scheme to falsely inflate the value of securities held by a hedge fund advised by the firm. The fund reported artificially inflated returns and monthly net asset values, which resulted in more than $5.9 million in inflated management and performance fees being paid to its investment adviser. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed parallel criminal charges on Wednesday against Valvani, Johnston, Lumiere, and Plaford.

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Oil futures turned higher Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude supplies fell by 900,000 barrels for the week ended June 10. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday had reported a 1.2 million-barrel rise, while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected a 1.4 million-barrel decline. Gasoline supplies declined by 2.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles edged up by 800,000 barrels last week, according to the EIA. July crude was at $48.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 11 cents, or 0.2%, from Tuesday’s settlement. Prices traded lower at $47.90 before the data.

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Bank of America Corp. is planning to shed up to 8,000 jobs at its retail bank, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing comments from the president of retail banking at a conference this week. Thong Nguyen said the bank had 68,400 employees at the end of the first quarter, and that number would likely fall to the low 60s, the FT reported. It cited people with knowledge of the program saying the cuts would come mostly from attrition of back-office employees, meaning staff would not be replaced when they leave. Shares rose 1.5% in early trade, but are down 20% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.8%.

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Cisco Systems Inc. was downgraded to neutral from buy and removed from Goldman Sachs’ Americas Buy list on Wednesday. Analyst Simona Jankowski also lowered the 12-month price target on Cisco’s stock to $32 from $35, citing decelerating earnings-per-share growth and other “elevated risks” in the near-to-intermediate term that could weigh on the company’s expansion. Cisco’s shift to a more “recurring revenue” model may help strengthen sales and give it a stronger position in the Internet of Things market long term, but Simona said the near-term risks are of larger concern at the moment. Shares of Cisco fell 1.6% to $28.50 in morning trade – representing the biggest decliner in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The stock is about flat on the year, versus a 0.5% decline for the Dow 30.

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U.S. stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday as investors braced for an updated monetary-policy outlook from the Federal Reserve in the afternoon. The main benchmarks were on track to snap a four-day losing streak, the longest streak of declines since the stock market reached its nadir in February. A pair of stronger-than-expected reports on manufacturing and inflation also boosted sentiment. The S&P 500 gained 4 points, or 0.2%, to 2,079. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 43 points, or 0.3%, to 17,724 at the open. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the session up 11 points, or 0.2%, at 4,854.

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